Crazy Water & the Wellness Capital

Mineral Wells is a town built on water — specifically, on a foul-tasting well that a rheumatism-stricken settler swore had cured him in the 1870s. Word spread, the sick and the curious poured in, and a boomtown rose around the springs. The famous slogan 'Crazy' came from a story about a so-called crazy-woman well, and for years Mineral Wells was the leading health spa in Texas, its pavilions dispensing 'Crazy Water' by the glass. This downtown walk traces the spa era at street level: the company that bottled the legend, the markers to the town and its first stone schoolhouse, the post office and the railway depot that delivered tens of thousands of health-seekers. It ends in the shadow of the Baker Hotel, the great tower whose silhouette still defines the skyline. Bring a thirst for stories — the water's an acquired taste.